Too much politics in local football - CONCACAF’s Taylor
… to submit report with recommendations on Monday
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
August 19, 2004
CONCACAF Deputy General Secretary, yesterday, declared that the big problem with Guyana’s football was the politics in local football.
Taylor, was briefing the media at Le Meridien Pegasus on his fact-finding visit to Guyana, following letters to CONCACAF from the Georgetown Football League (GFL) to intervene in a impasse between the city governing body and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
“I did not come here to support (Odinga) Lumumba or the Georgetown Football League. I did not come here to support (GFF president Colin) Klass. I came here to find out what is happening with football.”
Taylor said in the final analysis, Lumumba and the GFL would not suffer nor would Klass and executive of the GFF suffer.
“The people who would suffer are the young people who want to play football. My thing is to try and make sure we have things in place so that these people can use their energy in a constructive manner.”
The CONCACAF brass was adamant that CONCACAF did not bulldoze its way into Guyana’s football without contacting the GFF.
“The thing that bothered me was the impression that I just came here based on CONCACAF getting a letter from Lumumba and acted on it. That did not happen at all. I contacted the general secretary of the Guyana Football Federation (George Rutherford).”
Taylor said he informed the official about several letters on the football situation here and asked for an update about the problems.
“I had a long discussion with him. I contacted him to get some background information and as I got the information I passed it on to Mr Jack Warner (CONCACAF president), saying this is what the general secretary says the whole thing is about. As a result of that I came here.”
He said that all the relevant letters were with the GFF and he was surprised about the impression here that CONCACAF acted without consulting its member - the GFF.
“This impression has been given not only to the public, but also to members of the council. There are several members of the council who were asking me about letters. And I had no intention of reading or giving them letters because those letters were supposed to be in the possession of the Guyana Football Federation. I want to make that very clear.”
The one-man commission appointed by CONCACAF disclosed that he would submit his report to the regional governing body on Monday, with recommendations for short- and long-term solutions to the country’s football woes.
Taylor revealed that he met both sides - GFF and GFL, the sports minister and the GFF General Council and had an open meeting, Tuesday night, the latter he requested to have a full picture of the situation.
He said he had to sieve through the information he gathered to determine the facts because there were conflicting views from persons who sometimes belonged to the same group.
He cited cases in which one person of an association said things were not going well, while another said that everything was going smoothly, with the same situation occurring in the women’s football.
“And that is a major problem because I am finding it difficult to really and truly get a good bill on what is really the situation. People in the same group have different positions, they’re telling you different things and sometimes completely opposite. I now have to decipher what is true; what is fact and what is fiction.”
The CONCACAF brass also disclosed that the real issues were not addressed, but persons spoke about different matters without touching on what he wanted to find out.
“I ask about a glass and they tell me a cup, a saucer, a spoon, all kinds of other things, and I hear nothing about the glass.”
Taylor declined to disclose the recommendations until he would have reported to CONCACAF, but promised to send back the plans to both sides.
Asked what he considered were the problems, he cited several areas, with politics being the major bugbear.
“One of the big problems, I wouldn’t say major, in Guyana is the politics in football. Too many people call me and they are not talking about the problems in football, but the problems in the politics.”
Taylor said another problem was that information was kept in a little group, thus many were outside with no or not enough information so they were forming opinion and saying things without the necessary information.
“There is not enough information coming from the people in charge.”
The CONCACAF commissioner said there were people who not really were working for the game.
Lumumba, the chairman of the GFL Steering Committee, told Taylor that the city body was prepared to work with the GFF in a responsible manner to bring football not only in Georgetown, but Guyana.
“This is not a struggle to destroy or divide the GFF; this is not an anti-Klass struggle; this is just a struggle to ensure that our young people have a better day ahead.”